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Fam Nice (Battle Rapper)
Billy Williams (born April 12, 1978) professionally known as Fam Nice is a battle rapper and hip hop recording artist who co-founded the first battle rap leagues and is considered to be the "godfather of modern battle rap". In 1999, Fam Nice and Axe co-founded the first battle rap websites which greatly increased the popularity and modernized the battle rap scene. Sacred Society Battle League conducted battles in audio and text. Before Youtube if you wanted to catch a battle online whether it be text or audio tournaments all the best battlers were at Sacred. Sacred Society Battle League In 1999, Fam Nice was at Valdosta State University studying fines art and website design. He was arguably the most popular battler online at that time prior to the online internet boom becoming a prevalent avenue for music. His knowledge of website design and battle rap resulted in what was the best looking graphic based hip hop website of the 1990s and one of the first online hip hop news sites. However, it was first and foremost a battle league. Sacred Society had interviews, hip hop news, tournaments with rookie and pro levels known as the Boot Camp and the Gravel Pit and big yearly tournaments were known as Pay-Per-View. There was a cash pot and the winner took all. PPV 8 being the last of these tournaments. The top ten battlers were also ranked every month and the top spot was known as the Supreme Lyricist. Each battle was voted on and there was a declared winner unlike current rap battles. There was also a monthly award known as the Esco Award for the emcee with the grimiest, darkest content and style. Sacred Society was the most respected and well known battle league of its time and its format has been copied by almost every known battle league to date, including URL which today is ostensibly purported as the most popular battle league. To quote Fam Nice, "all they did was add a camera". Much like Steve Jobs did with Apple computers; the modernization, competition format, and design contributions of Fam Nice sent a giant ripple through the battle rap universe. "I reached out to many other battle leagues online at that time. I would send them a link to Sacred Society in hopes of connecting and building on the sport of battle rapping; however, many wouldn't ever respond back. Weeks later, I would see implementation of my ideas on their sites as well as other ideas and suggestions that I offered." - Fam Nice From the late 90s until 2008 Sacred Society was without a doubt the premier battle league and a notable part of Hip hophistory as it pertains to being at the forefront of the new age internet boom. Most were hesitant in taking the online route; however, it has become a major marketing tool for most current music trends. Fam Nice was one of the first emcees and producers to take the risk of doing almost 90 percent of his ventures online. His last album, "Phreedom in a Cage" was solely released on Myspace for free download. That venture and effort would become a blueprint for many mix tapes and albums that would follow (See Mickey Factz's leak project). When online video technology advanced battle leagues such as Grind Time, King of the Dot, and Don't Flop essentially took over as the upmost mainstream battle rap leagues, but Fam Nice and Sacred Society will always be remembered as a pioneer and the battle league which brought modernization and mass media popularity to the lyrical sport of battle rap.